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On January 29, 2019, California’s Pacific Gas and Electric, one of the nation’s largest utilities, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. PG&E’s bankruptcy is certain to be one of the largest and most complex restructurings in recent years and will involve state and federal regulators and a myriad number of issues, including the impact of the bankruptcy case on criminal proceedings now pending against PG&E.
In an article recently published in Bankruptcy Law360, restructuring partners…

eSquire Global Crossings will be on holiday until the New Year. We look forward in 2018 to continuing to bring our readers observations and insights on significant restructuring and insolvency issues, cases and developments from the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and around the world. We wish everyone a happy holiday and a great New Year!…

Last week our Energy Restructuring Team attended the Energy CFO Roundtable in Houston that focused on “Restructuring in the Oil Patch”. Stephen Lerner, the chair of our Restructuring & Insolvency Practice Group, was one of the panelists. In this blog we summarize some of the important takeaways from the Roundtable, along with our current thoughts and insights on the current turmoil in this sector.
“This cycle is different from 1986.”
Comparing this market to the…

eSquire Global Crossings will be on holiday until the New Year. We look forward in 2016 to continuing to bring our readers observations and insights on significant restructuring and insolvency issues, cases and developments from the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and around the world. We wish everyone a happy holiday and a great New Year!…

It has been one year since we launched our global and cross-border restructuring and insolvency blog, eSquire Global Crossings. The blog has been a tremendous success and we have you, our loyal clients and friends, to thank. In more than 160 blog entries to date, we have provided our observations and insights on significant restructuring and insolvency issues, cases and developments from the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and around the world. To date,…

The recent decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in In re One2One Communications, LLC may radically alter the ability of debtors to escape appeals of confirmed plans for reorganization. The Third Circuit, which governs the influential Delaware bankruptcy courts, has for almost 20 years embraced the judicially created doctrine of “equitable mootness” as a basis for dismissal of appeals of confirmed plans. The doctrine, which has no textual foundation…

Illinois Governor Rauner presented his turnaround agenda in his “State of the State” address last week and called for, among other things, the state “to extend to municipalities bankruptcy protections.” Mirroring the proposed legislation introduced by Representative Ron Sandack in January, and reported on in an earlier post, Illinois seems positioned to provide municipalities with clear and direct access to Chapter 9 bankruptcy and, in so doing, provide them with more leverage in negotiating with…

On February 6th, Federal District Judge Francisco Besosa ruled that Puerto Rico’s municipal debt-restructuring law, the “Recovery Act”, was unconstitutional stating that: “The Recovery Act is pre-empted by the federal Bankruptcy Code and is therefore void.” The Court also permanently enjoined current and future government officials from enforcing the Act. Puerto Rico has announced that it will be appealing the ruling.
So where does this leave municipal debt restructuring in Puerto Rico? In…

Illinois’ municipal distress is severe and we have witnessed the political maneuvers to address Chicago’s ongoing fiscal dilemma. In 2013, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel stoked bankruptcy fears citing the city’s ballooning pension obligations that he estimated could exceed $1.6 billion in 2016. Pew Charitable Trusts has reported that among the nation’s five largest cities, Chicago has put aside the smallest portion of its looming pensions obligations. While certain changes have been made to counter the…

The bankruptcy laws of the United States have a rich history, stemming in significant part from the railroad failures of the late 19th century, and the Great Depression of the 1930s. In 1970, Congress established a “Commission on the Bankruptcy Laws of the United States” to study and recommend changes to the Bankruptcy Act of 1898. Based in part on that Commission’s recommendations, Congress enacted the 1978 Bankruptcy Code, which remains largely in place today.…